Where there is a significant male factor involved in a couples’ infertility, some couples may avail of the option to use donor sperm in order to achieve a pregnancy. As recommended by the doctor and depending on other factors involved, donor sperm may be used in combination with IUI, IVF or ICSI as appropriate.

Who are the sperm donors?

Donors are ordinary, physically healthy men from a broad cross section of society who's ages range from 18-50 years. Most of them are students from institutions of higher education. They receive only small remuneration for donation and it is believed that they are genuine in their wish to help others.

How are the donors assessed?

All donors undergo rigorous assessment before being accepted and all are examined and given final approval for donation by a medical doctor. Assessment involves screening both for genetic conditions and infectious diseases.

Genetic screening

This involves a full medical assessment and a medical history covering grandparents and any descendants. The medical history places particular emphasis on any heritable conditions that may be present in the family and all donors are karyotyped. In specific situations, tests for other heritable diseases may be carried out (sickle cell disease, thalassaemia, Tay Sachs, cystic fibrosis.

Infectious diseases

All donors are tested for Chlamydia, HIV-I and -II, HTLV-I, Hep B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis C (HCV-Ab), syphilis, gonorrhoea. These tests are carried out once every three months and all semen samples are quarantined for six months before they can be used to ensure as far as possible that the samples were negative for these diseases at the time of donation.

What information is available about the donor?

The majority of the donor sperm that we use in the Sims Clinic is obtained from a Danish donor bank. Regulations in Denmark require the donor bank to keep, at a minimum, the following information about donors on file:

Extended profile donors have much more detail available on file concerning their characteristics and personality. This is only available to you if you request an extended profile donor which entails an additional cost.

So does that mean that the sperm donors are completely anonymous?

No, not all donors. Donors can elect to be either anonymous or identifiable. If you choose to request an identifiable donor, this does not mean that you as a parent Will receive the donor's identifying information. However, any child born using an Identifiable donor will , at the age of consent, be entitled to the donor's identifying information. Identifiable donors incur an additional cost compared to anonymous donors.Anonymous donors are given explicit assurance of anonymity. Danish law states that the anonymous donor's identity cannot be revealed to the recipient couple or the child.Regardless as to whether you choose an anonymous or identifiable donor, the donor is not allowed to receive information about the identity of the recipient couple or the child. The donor has no paternal rights to a child born as a result of treatment to an anonymous couple using his sperm.

What happens if we need to use donor sperm?

If treatment using donor sperm has been recommended and all issues have been discussed and considered with the doctor and the counsellor, suitable donor sperm is selected for the couple. The physical characteristics of the patient(s) are recorded. The hair colour, eye colour, height, build, and blood group are noted and these are used to pick the closest matching donor. In heterosexual couples, the characteristics of the donor are matched as closely as possible with those of the male, but if the exact combination of characteristics is not available, it is sometimes necessary to match some characteristics to that of the female. When there is no male to match, we can either match to the female or match to characteristics the female would find acceptable.

If we have a child using donor sperm can the same donor be used for more treatment?

Yes, in most cases reservation of donor sperm for future siblings is possible. As soon as you know you have an ongoing pregnancy, if there is still some of that same donor available at the donor bank, we advise you to contact the clinic in order for us to advise you on how to reserve some for future treatment.

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